Thursday, May 18, 2017

Minding the Kids: A Short Story For Grandparents Only (any resemblance to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental)

courtesy of dreamstime.com

“Guess what!” Sophia excitedly told
her mother.

“What?” Mimi cradled the phone on
her shoulder and continued sorting papers.

“Avi’s mother’s giving us the
greatest present for his birthday. A long weekend in Greece!”

“Isn’t that nice,” Mimi exclaimed
but inwardly she braced herself for what she was sure was coming.

“So we need to know when you can
watch the kids.”

“Ah-ha,” Mimi said, but just to
herself. Out loud she calmly stated, “Let me talk to Abba and I’ll get back to
you.”

Later, over dinner, she told Shimon
about their daughter’s plans.

“You told her we’d watch their three
kids for three days when they’re out of the country?” He stared at her in
shock.

“I guess I should have talked to you
first,” Mimi said in a small voice. “I can tell Sophia we can’t do it. I can’t
manage if you’re not on board.”

“No,” Shimon took a deep, resolute
breath. “We’ll do it. It’ll be fine. And this birthday present won’t cost us a
dime.”

“We’ll see what it costs in wear and
tear.”

Mimi was nervous. The three boys
aged three, four, and five, were adorable but, boy, did they have a lot of
energy. Already in their sixties Mimi and Shimon didn’t have all that much
energy any more. Sophia was oblivious to her parents’ misgivings. She went full
force with her plans and sent lists of instructions to her mother.

The first command was to pick up the
boys from their afternoon program no later than five o’clock. That was easy
enough. Sophia and her family lived a thirty-five minute drive away from her
parents. Mimi and Shimon decided they would set out an hour earlier so they
wouldn’t be pressured.

“Just send us a couple of backup
numbers in case we have trouble finding the nursery school,” Mimi instructed
her daughter. Sophia did as she was told and explained to her friends that her
parents would be coming for her kids and might be calling for assistance.

Thursday at exactly four o’clock
Shimon and Mimi were in the car and on their way. At four fifteen traffic came
to a halt. Waze was unable or unwilling to give an explanation for the
standstill. Its map showed that in just a couple of kilometers all would be
clear. But it wasn’t. First Mimi and then Shimon came to the realization that
they wouldn’t be on time to get their grandchildren. What would happen? Would
social services be called in? Before they could totally panic Mimi pulled out
her emergency number.

“Hello, Efriam, this is Sophia’s
mother.”

“Hi, how are you?”

“Well, we’re stuck in traffic and
we’re not going to get there in time.”

“Oh, so do you want to reschedule?”

Reschedule what? Mimi began and then a horrible thought hit her.

“Are you Benny’s father?”

“No,” the man on the line answered
calmly. “She must have given you the number for the wrong Efriam.” He calmly
hung up.

It was hard to say who was more
panicked now, Shimon or Mimi. Would the police be called in when no one came to
pick up their grandsons? If only they could call Sophia but she was on her
flight.

“Wait,” Shimon cried out. “She sent
another backup number to my phone.” He handed it his wife. “Try calling.”

Taking a deep breath and saying a
prayer Mimi punched in the number. Sophia’s friend answered and grasped the
problem in a moment.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get two of the
boys and I’ll call a friend to get the third. It will be fine. Here’s my
address. I’ll see you when you get here.”

At five-thirty they pulled up at the
friend’s house. Their grandsons greeted them happily but then there was the
problem of the car seats. Neither of the friends had had room for them inside
their cars. They’d doubled up kids in seat belts since they were just driving
in their village and left the car seats locked inside the nursery school. There
was no way, though, that Shimon and Mimi could take their grandchildren on the
highway without car seats. Even if it wasn’t illegal they were too nervous to
do so. However, Sophia’s friend, a real ball of fire, thought on her feet.

“We’ll loan you our car seats,” she
declared. “Sunday morning when the nursery school opens we’ll trade back
again.”

That’s what they did and they made
it home safely. Although the boys missed their parents from time to time their
grandparent’s house was full of toys both inside and out. Mimi and Shimon lost
track of the times they wiped bottoms and noses, poured juice and handed out
treats, told stories, played games, and settled fights. When Shabbat was over
Saturday night they realized the end was in sight. There was one big bath,
another story, and bed. In the morning they’d be returning the children to the
nursery school’s responsibility. What a liberating thought!

Mimi finished the bedtime story. “I love
you,” she told each of her grandsons.

Aim of Blog

Emunah, faith in God, does not mean believing only good things will happen; it means believing that whatever God does is for the best. I wrote these words at a time when drive-by shootings and suicide bombers had become almost weekly, if not daily, tragedies. Now, more than ten years later, the words are no less true. Whatever HaShem does is for the best. It is my hope to post articles, advice, and homey stories everyweekwhich will reinforce this fact. And now, a special thanks to:

Batya Medad, my neighbor and experienced blogger. Without her I would never have been able to set up

About Me

Born in Wichita, Kansas, I became a Baalat Teshuva, newly religious, in Phoenix, Arizona while attending ASU. After twelve years of marriage my husband and I made Aliyah with five children and settled in Shilo in the heart of Israel. Two more children joined the family as have daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, Baruch HaShem. My favorite past times are learning, sewing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, enjoying my family and friends, and, of course, writing. My first novel, Sondra’s Search, was published in 2007 and I am working on the sequel.